By the Fire
by nevercallmesane
Summary: Lily Evans is known for her brains, but what happens when the redhead forgets an assignment? Only James Potter knows.
1. Chapter 1

The fading light from the common room fireplace shone upon Lily's half-finished Potions essay, making the parchment glow numerous shades of warm browns and reds. The ink lost some of its gloss when it had dried, but the small bottle twinkled in the firelight. A quill lay not next to the paper but on the floor, a small drop of ink seeping into the carpet underneath the tip. The quill have escaped from Lily's hand when sleep took her and her hand relaxed. The red-haired girl had been up for hours, trying to accomplish the task of writing an essay the day before its due-date. Normally the very organized Lily would have finished the essay days ago, but in a rare turn of events she had forgotten about the essay until the very night before it was to be handed in. In a panic, Lily had bolted out of bed, half asleep, to the common room where she attempted to write the essay, barely remembering what Professor Slughorn had assigned it to be about. But that was the key word. Attempted. Unable to stay fully awake, Lilly stumbled into the world of words like a drunk astronomer might try to find constellations in the night sky. Both were extremely well educated in their matter, but when the brain is barely alert, neither can succeed in their task. So Lily stayed up for almost an hour, pouring nonsense and illegible handwriting into the homework assignment. At last, when the feat of raising the quill to the paper remained too much, Lily slumped defeated into the red armchair, allowing the soft crackling sounds of the fire to soothe her to sleep.

James Potter couldn't sleep. He had tossed in bed for an hour after his companions drifted into dreams. Occasionally his grunting and flailing would awaken one of the Marauders-he had already suffered a flying book from Remus and several colorful curse words from Sirius. At least Peter remained asleep-nothing could wake the pudgy Marauder. He sleeps through most of the late night activity the rest of the gang partakes in-not that they were complaining. But sometimes it can prove difficult boasting about a prank to their admirers in the Great Hall with the fourth Marauder sitting in silence next to them. James did feel some pity for his 'friend'-maybe that was why he allowed the overexcited pudgy First Year to join the Marauders years ago. People seem not to notice it, but James Potter has a large and caring heart underneath his large ego.

But James wasn't thinking about that right now. What he was stressing over was how he just couldn't seem to reach sleep. He tried reading the book Remus threw at him, counting the number of days until summer vacation, even imagining what would happen if Lily ever said yes to his request at a date. None of his ideas worked. Dejected, James decided to walk a bit through the halls of the great Hogwarts castle, maybe stop by the kitchen for some warm milk. The house elves would enjoy his visit. Slipping on the thin, spider web-like Invisibility Cloak, James crept down the stairs of the boy's Dormitory. Immediately he was welcomed by the glow of the common room fire. A wave of soft heat blew over him, and he was immediately tugged to the curving flames. His plan changed and he now intended to slip into the large armchair that faced the fire, maybe maybe watch the colors until his eyes became weary.

He first noticed the ink bottle and parchment on the circular table-someone's forgotten homework? Then his hazel eyes took in the sight of a veil of red hair draped over the arm of the chair and his heart skipped a beat. Then he saw her. Curled up in a fetal position, one arm dangling near the floor and the other on her stomach, Lily Evans glowed warmly in front of the fire. Her hair seemed wild but at the same time serene as it beautifully shined. Her chest gently rose and sank with every breath. She seemed so...at peace. No longer stressed from schoolwork, Lily lay calmly in the soft armchair, probably deep in a pleasant dream. James' heart quickened as he continued to gaze fondly at the girl he fancied since he first became mesmerized by her image on the Hogwarts Express. His feelings deepened and grew with each passing year as both she and he grew up. He can only wish she feels the same.

Lovingly James removed his hand from under the Cloak. Gently he rolled her ginger locks between his fingers, relishing in the softness and cinnamon scent of her hair. James couldn't express the love he felt for her at the moment. He gave Lilly such a tender gaze, hoping she would one day be awake to see it. Sighing, he let his hand drift from the ginger hair. It hurt him deeply to know that Lily only saw him as an arrogant prat, despite the affection that James tries to deliver to her inconspicuously, but his attempts at impressing his love always seem to fail.

No longer in the mood to wander the halls, James sank heavily into the sofa opposite Lily. He watched her sleep for a bit, occasionally standing to give more life to the fire. As he sat back down, he took in the parchment on the table. Curious as to what had caused Lily to stay up so late, he brought the paper closer so that he could read it:

" Huw creete A Pollyguse Poshion "

James quietly laughed to himself. Lily must have been extremely exhausted to have written this. After some examination, he concluded that what she must have intended on writing was "How To Create a Polyjuice Potion" . He remembered that he had previously written an essay about the potion as well-it's due the next morning, if his memory serves him well. This surprised him. Lily Evans, forgetting a homework assignment? And from her favorite subject as well.

The first sentence resembled the title. A combination of sloppy handwriting, incorrect grammar, and terrible spelling rendered the words almost unreadable. James' eyes skimmed the passage Lily had written. The whole essay was illegible! She must have been fairly well into sleep when she wrote this. James sadly gazed at Lily's resting form. She always overworked herself, never getting enough sleep. No doubt there were nights when she only got an hour of sleep in.

James then remembered his own essay. He was fairly proud of it-his best work this year. No help from Remus was taken to create the essay, even. He had been looking forward to Professor Slughorn's praise all week, but one glance back at Lily's essay told him that he can turn in a well written essay some other day.

After James had completed his task, he returned the Cloak to its trunk, then lied down to bed into a night of deep and restful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Okay guys, here it is. The second one. And, an important note- I made a huge mistake. I accidentally took a bit of chapter and added it onto chapter one. Idiot. But now both are correct, I hope. Enjoy(:

"Lily, hurry up! We're going to be late for Potions!" Lily's friend Alice yelled from across the crowded corridor. Students quickly raced for their assigned classes around the trudging Lily. She didn't want to face potions, not with her lack of sleep and horrible essay. She didn't even have time to read it through-waking up late, Lily simply grabbed whatever was on the table where she fell asleep and raced for class. What was she to say to Professor Slughorn? No one expected something like this from her. Not once in all her years at Hogwarts had Lily Evans ever forgotten a homework assignment before, but here you have it. She just wasn't prepared for such an event. She just knew everyone would laugh at her. And them...oh God, the Marauders are in her class! James wouldn't let her live down the humiliation...

A rushing student accidentally knocked into her, causing Lily to emerge from her trance. She found herself at the doorway of her Potions class. Gingerly she took her seat next to Alice, careful not to make eye contact with Professor Slughorn. She smiled fleetingly at Alice, who returned a confused grin. The rest of the class then stumbled in and hurriedly took their seats. The Marauders were part of the straggling group. Lily pulled a curtain of her ginger hair over her eyes and subconsciously sank slightly in her chair.

James entered Potions class with the rest of the Marauders, laughing along about a joke Sirius had just told. Still grinning, he stole a look out of the corner of his eye at Lily. She was intently staring at her desk, hunched over, although nothing lay in front of her. Had she not found the essay? James' eyebrows creased in worry. But careful to not attract any attention from Slughorn or the Marauders, he turned away and sat in his seat.

"Good morning, my remarkable pupils! As you can see, I am in a tremendously good mood today, but that does not mean that any of you have permission to walk out of this class without handing in your essays! So now, if you may, please take out a quill along with your papers." Slughorn's voice boomed across the room louder that usual. A few of the students groaned when Slughorn mentioned that excuses were not allowed, but Lily's face showed a mix of emotions somewhat along the lines of utmost fear and true horror. It was then that James relived with a start that Lily didn't know that she actually did have the essay! But James saw her snatch it from the table with his own eyes. Was it possible that Lily still believed she had the faulty essay on her bag?

James in a panic tore out a page of loose parchment from his school bag, grabbed Peter's quill beside him and began to write. Five seconds later he cast a charm on the paper. The edges rustled a bit as if a slight breeze blew underneath it, then spontaneously threw itself into the air up towards the ceiling. Thankfully Slughorn's back was turned, writing the day's potion-making directions of the board. The note then dive-bombed towards Lily, but at the last second decided against it and gently sank onto her desk. She stifled a surprised gasp, then searched the room with her eyes for the messenger. But James already lowered his gaze and stared at Slughorn.

Lily's eyebrows curved in confusion, but then she looked down and read the short but simple sentence; Take out your essay

No 'from _' or anything. And no explanation. But Lily did what the note said. She reached into her organized bag and pulled out the essay of gibberish that she stuffed into her bag that morning. Why did the sender want her essay? It was just a lode of rubbi-

Oh. And basically, 'Oh' was all that passed through Lily's mind for a few moments as she quickly scanned the paper, brain and senses paralyzed from shock. This defiantly _was not_ the horrid writing she forced out the night before, but an actual, decent, full point essay discussing Pollyjuice Potions. But how?

Before she reached the last few paragraphs, Lily's emerald eyes widened when realization hit her head-on. The writing-she recognized the handwriting. It belonged to the same person who also wrote her note after note of attempted and failed efforts for a date. The same one who annoyed Lily to the point of no return, but was at the same time strangely sweet and, well, adorable. She quickly glanced at that person now, but all she caught was a messy head of jet black hair staring straight at Professor Slughorn. Which, to be honest, was actually an uncommon sight, him paying attention.

With a confused sigh, she looked back upon the paper and noticed a small note scribbled on the very bottom of the parchment.

Go out with me?

Lily couldn't help but let out a small giggle, quickly covering her mouth with a hand. She had to convince Alice not to look at the parchment before inking out the request, then writing a reply on the piece of paper that had hit her just recently. Lily glanced back at James, and with the reassurance that Professor Slughorn's head was still turned, she enchanted the parchment and watched nervously as it sailed gracefully through the air and landed, light as a feather, on Potter's desk. Before he had a chance to whip his head around, Lily adverted her eyes back to the desk.

A small smirk tugged at James's mouth as a small letter floated upon his desk. He quickly glanced at Lily, but the redhead's eyes were already glued to her desk. With a roll of his own, James turned back to the parchment, hesitantly prying it open with his wand. Who know what Lily's answer would be? A 'no', most likely. But when has James even taken 'no' as an answer...

Hogsmead, next Thursday. Meet me at the gates.

And thank you.

Now the smirk expanded into a full on love-struck grin. Still smiling like a maniac, James silently passed the note on to Sirius, barely registering when his best mate congratulated by punching him on the arm. In fact, the rest of the day passed like a blur to James, and he only finally received a clear head when he drifted off into sleep, and even then he could only think that today, today was the day that Lily Evans finally agreed to go out with James Potter.

Now to see how the second date goes.


End file.
